Chinese crew given long prison sentences
Print Edition
TWELVE Chinese fishermen, arrested last year after their boat ran aground on a World Heritage-listed coral reef, were handed long prison terms yesterday for illegal fishing in the Philippines, a court official said.
They were arrested at the Tubbataha Reef, a marine sanctuary in the western Philippines famed as a pristine dive spot, in April last year after their 48-meter boat hit and badly damaged it.
The captain and his crew had pleaded not guilty, telling the court in the western city of Puerto Princesa that they had merely got lost.
But regional trial court judge Ambrosio de Luna rejected the explanation as “highly incredible and unbelievable.”
The court imposed the maximum punishment of 12 years for the captain and prison terms of between six and 10 years for the rest of the crew, clerk of court Hazel Alaska said.
The 12 told the court they would appeal the ruling.
All were found guilty of violating the anti-poaching provisions of a 2009 law that gave the Tubbataha Reef protected status, Alaska said.
The fishermen were also fined US$100,000 each, while their boat was forfeited.
They will remain free on bail while they appeal the conviction.
They were the first foreigners to be found guilty of violating the law, according to Herminia Caabay, legal officer for a council that helps the western province of Palawan protect its natural resources.
The fishermen are still on trial for possession of protected species, Alaska said, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The Philippine coast guard said hundreds of dead and frozen pangolins were seized from the fishing boat.
Pangolins are widely hunted in parts of Asia for their meat, skin and scales.
In China they are considered a delicacy and believed to have medicinal qualities.
The captain had earlier testified that navigational equipment had broken down on their way home from Indonesia.
The Chinese boat ran aground less than three months after a US minesweeper damaged the reef.
The Philippines fined the United States 58 million pesos (US$1.33 million), but laid no criminal charges.
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